Signature Based System and Methods for Generation of Personalized Multimedia Channels

ABSTRACT

A system for generating personalized channels of multimedia content. The system comprises an interface to one or more multimedia sources, wherein the multimedia sources provide multimedia content to the personalized channels of multimedia content; and a server for receiving multimedia content from the one or more multimedia sources through the interface and for serving selected multimedia content to users of the system over one or more of the personalized channels; wherein a user of the system receives personalized multimedia content gathered by the server into the one or more of the personalized channels responsive of preferences of the user as observed by the system for the user.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED PATENT APPLICATIONS

This patent application is a continuation in part of:

-   -   (a) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/084,150 filed on Apr.        25, 2008, now pending, which is the National Stage of        International Application No. PCT/IL2006/001235, filed on Oct.        26, 2006, which claims foreign priority from Israeli Application        No. 171577 filed on Oct. 26, 2005 and Israeli Application No.        173409 filed on 29 Jan. 2006; and    -   (b) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/195,863, filed Aug. 21,        2008, now pending, which claims priority under 35 USC 119 from        Israeli Application No. 185414, filed on Aug. 21, 2007, and        which is also a continuation-in-part of the above-referenced        U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/084,150. All of the        applications referenced above are herein incorporated by        reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates generally to searching and categorizingmultimedia data, and more specifically to systems, methods andapparatuses that enable the automatic personalization of multimediacontent channels that suit a user implied preferences.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In general, when searching for Web pages, typical Web search engineshave the advantage of a database of textual information over which tosearch. Computers have been able to process textual information fordecades. To find a Web page containing a specific word it is necessaryto merely enter that word into a search engine search box and the searchengine will attempt to find pages that contain the particular word.

When it comes to searching for images or other multimedia data, existingsearch algorithms, and their implementations generally rely ondescriptive cataloging. An image has, at a minimum, a file name, andoptionally text tags, otherwise referred to as metadata, which may beinterpreted as a title, description, or keywords. A database ofcataloged images can have additional information included and realcataloging. For example, the records could list the artist, the date ofproduction, the style, the theme, the colors, the reproductiontechnique, etc. Yet cataloging the information content within images isa daunting task and in most cases incomplete or insufficient as visualcontent has a huge amount of useful data that may require tagging forsearches, which is not practical to achieve.

The sound files, like images, may be indexed by their titles.Unfortunately, if it is simply an embedded or linked audio file on a Webpage, there may be no additional information about it. The audio filesmay have some descriptive information included, such as the source.Other metadata can be included in audio files, but that requires moreeffort on the part of the content producer, and as in the case of imagesdiscussed above, this may be incomplete or insufficient, to say theleast.

To fully index the content of audio files generally requires having atranscript of the session in a computer-readable text format to enabletext-indexing. With voice recognition software, some automated indexingof audio files is possible and has been successfully used. However, itis widely known that such transcripts rarely match what was spokenexactly. The difficulty is compounded if the spoken words are sung andthe search is for the song in a specific tune, or a search for a tuneregardless of the words.

When combining the difficulties of searching for images with thedifficulties of searching for audio files, one may begin to appreciatethe exacerbated problems of searching for multimedia content such asvideo. Like audio, video comes in a variety of formats, filed orstreamed, including AVI, MPEG, QuickTime®, Windows® Media, and Real®.

Video content is even more difficult to index because of the largeamount of data that may require indexing, which includes images, orportions thereof, and text embedded in the image, as well as sounds. Theamount of all kinds of multimedia content distributed via the Internetis growing rapidly, much of it being sparsely indexed, if at all. Whilegeneral Web spiders can index file names of multimedia content, andpossibly the anchor text that links to the files, they are unable toeffectively index the actual content of the multimedia files and henceit is inaccessible to the search engine unless a transcript is availableas well.

In view of the limitations of the prior art, it would be advantageous toprovide a solution that enables automatic personalization of multimediasearch. It would be further advantageous to enable the mapping ofmultimedia content to topics.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Certain embodiments of the invention include system for generatingpersonalized channels of multimedia content. The system comprises aninterface to one or more multimedia sources, wherein the multimediasources provide multimedia content to the personalized channels ofmultimedia content; and a server for receiving multimedia content fromthe one or more multimedia sources through the interface and for servingselected multimedia content to users of the system over one or more ofthe personalized channels; wherein a user of the system receivespersonalized multimedia content gathered by the server into the one ormore of the personalized channels responsive of preferences of the useras observed by the system for the user.

Certain embodiments of the invention further include method forgenerating personalized channels of multimedia content. The methodcomprises initializing one or more personalized multimedia contentchannels of a user with multimedia content; wherein the multimediacontent in the one or more personalized multimedia content channel ispresented to the user on at least a web-browser of a computing device;receiving preferences of the user regarding the preferred multimediacontent in the personalized multimedia content channels; and changingthe multimedia content in the one or more personalized multimediacontent channels based on the received preferences.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The subject matter that is regarded as the invention is particularlypointed out and distinctly claimed in the claims at the conclusion ofthe specification. The foregoing and other objects, features andadvantages of the invention will be apparent from the following detaileddescription taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of a system for multimedia contentchannels personalized in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of a web browser, displaying video clips forselection in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart that schematically illustrates some of the stepsenabling the generation of desirable multimedia content in accordancewith an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram depicting the basic flow of information in thesignature processing system in accordance with an embodiment of theinvention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the flow of patches generation, responsevector generation, and signature generation in a large-scalespeech-to-text system implemented in accordance with an embodiment ofthe invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The embodiments disclosed by the invention are only examples of the manypossible advantageous uses and implementations of the innovativeteachings presented herein. In general, statements made in thespecification of the present application do not necessarily limit any ofthe various claimed inventions. Moreover, some statements may apply tosome inventive features but not to others. In general, unless otherwiseindicated, singular elements may be in plural and vice versa with noloss of generality. In the drawings, like numerals refer to like partsthrough several views.

Non-limiting embodiments of the invention include system and method forproducing of personalized audio-visual channels of multimedia contentbased on comparison of Signatures of the multimedia content. The user ofa personalized channel receives a plurality of multimedia content basedon an initial user preference, a default reference, or otherinitialization criteria. Subsequently, the user may refine the filteringof multimedia content provided by the system by removing undesiredmultimedia content, thereby automatically refining the user preferencesfor multimedia content, according to which future multimedia contentwill be provided by the system. The system searches continuously foradditional multimedia content that is compatible with the preferredmultimedia content selected by the user. Personalization of channels isbased on Signatures, tags, or other elements associated with multimediacontent. The multimedia content includes, but is not limited to, video,audio and graphics.

FIG. 1 shows an exemplary and non-limiting schematic diagram of a system100 enabling the production of personalized multimedia channels realizedin accordance with the principles of the invention. A network 110 isused to communicate between different parts of the system. The network110 may be the Internet, the world-wide-web (WWW), local area network(LAN), wide area network (WAN), metro area network (MAN) and othernetworks capable of enabling communication between the elements of thesystem 100. To the network 110 there are coupled one or more multimediasources (MMSs) 120-1 through 120-n (collectively referred hereinafter asMMSs 120 or individually as MMS 120, merely for simplicity purposes),each capable of providing multimedia content. Multimedia contentincludes, but is not limited to, images, graphics, video stream, videoclips, audio streams, audio clips, video frames, photographs, images ofsignals (e.g., spectrograms, phasograms, scalograms, etc.), combinationthereof and portions thereof. Further connected to the network 110 areone or more client applications, such as web browsers (WB) 130-1 through130-m (collectively referred hereinafter as web browsers 130 orindividually as web browser 130, merely for simplicity purposes). A webbrowser 130 is executed over a computing device including, for example,personal computers (PCs), personal digital assistants (PDAs), telephone,mobile phones, and other kinds of wired and mobile appliances, equippedwith browsing, viewing, listening, filtering, and managing capabilitiesetc., enabled as further discussed herein below. Network 110 therebyprovides an interface to the multimedia content available in MMSs 120.

A server 140 is further coupled to the network 110 and may provide to aweb browser 130 web pages containing multimedia content, or referencestherein, such that upon request by a web browser such multimedia contentis provided to the web browser 130. Furthermore, a signature generatorsystem (SGS) 150 is further coupled to server 140. The server 140 isenabled to receive and serve multimedia content and cause the SGS 150 togenerate a Signature, as explained in more detail herein below withrespect to FIGS. 3 and 4, for all multimedia content. The multimediacontent provided to a web browser 130 is dependent on comparison ofSignatures as used by a user of the web browser 130 and will be apparentfrom the description of FIGS. 4 and 5.

In certain exemplary embodiments a web browser 130, or client channelmanager application (not shown), available on either the server 140, onthe web browser 130, or as an independent or plug-in application, mayenable a user to create customized channels of multimedia content. Suchcustomized channels of multimedia content are personalized contentchannels that are generated in response to selections made by a user ofthe web browser 130 or the manager application, the system 100, and inparticular server 140 in conjunction with SPS 150, will determine whichmultimedia content is more suitable to be viewed, played or otherwiseutilized by the user with respect to a given channel, based on theSignatures of selected multimedia content. These channels may optionallybe shared with other users, used and/or further developed cooperatively,and/or sold to other users or providers, and so on.

In certain exemplary embodiments, a client, using for example a clientchannel manager application (not shown), may register as a user, eitherfor free or for payment. The user may initially define one or more newchannels, for example, a channel for video clips of classical music, oreven more particularly, video clips of classical music with a particularconductor. The multimedia content is subsequently extracted fromexisting sources and distributed to the client as an initial contentcluster or clusters. Clusters may be described as groupings of contentelements that have some commonality that can then be shown, streamed orotherwise transmitted through a channel. The system may initially beginstreaming a variety of multimedia content that relates generally to sucha defined channel, such as a music channel.

When the user opens the client application and views the variousmultimedia content elements available on the channel, the user mayaccept, reject or leave pending the various multimedia content elements.The user may also grade the content and/or clusters in terms of quality,relevance, etc., as well as easily enter other data categories thatdefine the cluster. In one embodiment of the invention the additionaldata category may be defined by another type of multimedia content, forexample, an image or a clip of sorts. Furthermore, the user may decideto remove all single images, lyrics, interviews etc., and to accept onlythe video clips. The user's choices can then be filtered, reorganized,and further defined to provide to the server 140 a more focused channelfor the user.

Subsequent to the user's modifications to the channel, the system 100ceases sending clusters with pictures, lyrics, interviews, etc.,presents only music video clips of focused content, based on the user'supdated preferences and/or behavior, to the user. As such, the more theuser is involved in responding to the presented multimedia content(e.g., by responding to the content by viewing it, deleting it from thecluster, approving it as desirable content, rejecting it as undesirablecontent, and/or by simply choosing preferred content or data etc.), themore the system 100, and particularly the server 140, learn how toimprove the clusters being pushed to the web browser 130 for the user toview.

It should be appreciated that the system 100 may be adapted to learn onits own, by comparing external multimedia content to multimedia contentthat was found to be desirable to the user. In some embodiments eachchannel, which may be personalized by a client, may be stored, filteredand distributed, for example, using existing channels, such as YouTube®,Facebook®, and others.

FIG. 2 shows an exemplary and non-limiting view of a web browserdisplaying video clips for selection. The view area 210 displays aplurality of images of video clips 220 (shown for example as clips 1thorough 6). One frame or more may be shown as the image for eachrespective video clip in the view area 210, or a part thereof. A usercan view a video clip associated with a clip 220 by, for example,directly clicking on-top of the image 220 displayed in view area 210.One of ordinary skill in the art would readily realize that other wayscan also be used. A user can then press the “select” button 230, or thelike thereof, to enter one or more selected clips (optionally thoseviewed) as one of interest to the user. Such a selection of a clip orfile may add the selection to at least one of the user's clusters, to betransmitted to the user in one or more selected user channels.Similarly, another button may be marked “remove” and enable the removalof a video clip from the cluster of video clips selected for the user.All such information, as derived by user responses, choices or behavior,is transmitted back to the server 140 for the purpose of determinationof future video clips to be pushed to the user of web browser 130. Itshould be understood that while the above example referred to videoclips, other multimedia content would be equally suitable for suchtreatment.

FIG. 3 shows is an exemplary and non-limiting flowchart 300 thatschematically illustrates the process enabling the generation ofdesirable multimedia content for a user of the system 100. For thepurpose of this illustration it is assumed that initially a user makes arequest to be provided with one or more categories of multimediacontent. In S310 the user is presented with a selection of multimediacontent, each of the multimedia content having a Signature, as describedin more detail herein below with respect to FIGS. 4 and 5. In certainembodiments the system 100 is initialized with the initial userpreferences, a default reference or other initialization criteria.Initial user preferences may be types of multimedia content that a userprefers to have access to and can be entered as a textual selection. Adefault reference may be provided by the system that comprises one ormore clusters that potentially are of interest to a particular user. Forexample, clusters of Signatures for a particular user may be provided bythe system as a default reference from which the processes disclosedherein begin. Other initialization criteria may also be used and are nota departure from the principles of the inventions disclosed herein.

In S320 the system 100, and in particular the server 140, receives fromthe user using the web browser 130 a selection of information respectiveof the presented or pushed multimedia content. Such selectioninformation may include, but is not limited to, accepting the content,removing the content, preferring the content, ranking the content,defining the content, filtering the content, and the like. In S330,responsive, for example, to the preference of the user, more multimediacontent that is found to match with the Signatures of the user preferredmultimedia content, are searched for by the system. In S340, it ischecked whether the new multimedia data has Signatures, and if not itcontinues with S350; otherwise, it continues with S360.

In S350 the new multimedia content not having a Signature or Signaturesis associated with a respective Signature based on the matching processof S330, where Signatures were created for the purpose of matching, andthen continues with S360. S340 and S350 may, in an embodiment of theinvention be performed in parallel with, or integrated with, S330, i.e.,when a new multimedia content to be matched does not already have aSignature, then a Signature in accordance with the principles of theinvention is generated and associated with the new multimedia content.

In S360 multimedia content that was marked to be removed by the user, orhas aged for lack of viewing or otherwise being ignored by the user of,for example, the web browser 130, is removed from the updated viewinglist of multimedia content to be displayed to a user in, for example,viewing area 210. In S370, a multimedia content channel is generated,based on user defined preferred content. Such content may be pushed to aclient application, in accordance with user preferences. In an exemplaryembodiment of the invention a personalized content channel provided tothe user includes multimedia content that comprises tags belonging to acluster. A cluster may be created by, for example and withoutlimitation, clustering of the tags.

In S380, if the process is to continue it continues with S310;otherwise, execution terminates.

FIGS. 4 and 5 illustrate the generation of Signatures by the SGS 150 inaccordance with an embodiment of the invention. A high-level descriptionof the process for large scale video matching performed by the MatchingSystem is depicted in FIG. 4. Video content segments 2 from a Masterdatabase (DB) 6 and a Target DB 1 are processed in parallel by a largenumber of independent computational Cores 3 that constitute anarchitecture for generating the Signatures (hereinafter the“Architecture”). Further details on the computational Cores generationare provided below. The independent Cores 3 generate a database ofRobust Signatures and Signatures 4 for Target content-segments 5 and adatabase of Robust Signatures and Signatures 7 for Mastercontent-segments 8. An exemplary and non-limiting process of signaturegeneration for an audio component is shown in detail in FIG. 5. Finally,Target Robust Signatures and/or Signatures are effectively matched, by amatching algorithm 9, to Master Robust Signatures and/or Signaturesdatabase to find all matches between the two databases.

To demonstrate an example of signature generation process, it isassumed, merely for the sake of simplicity and without limitation on thegenerality of the invention, that the signatures are based on a singleframe, leading to certain simplification of the computational coresgeneration. The Matching System is extensible for signatures generationcapturing the dynamics in-between the frames.

The Signatures' generation process will be described with reference toFIG. 5. The first step in the process of signatures generation from agiven speech-segment is to breakdown the speech-segment to K patches 14of random length P and random position within the speech segment 12. Thebreakdown is performed by the patch generator component 21. The value ofK and the other two parameters are determined based on optimization,considering the tradeoff between accuracy rate and the number of fastmatches required in the flow process of the System. In the next step,all the K patches are injected in parallel to all computational Cores 3to generate K response vectors 22 are fed in to a Signature generator 23to produce a database of Robust Signatures and Signatures 4.

In order to generate Robust Signatures, i.e., Signatures that are robustto additive noise L (where L is an integer equal to or greater than 1)computational Cores 3 are utilized in the Matching System. A frame i isinjected into all the Cores 3. The Cores 3 generate two binary responsevectors: {right arrow over (S)} which is a Signature vector, and {rightarrow over (RS)} which is a Robust Signature vector.

For generation of signatures robust to additive noise, such asWhite-Gaussian-Noise, scratch, etc., but not robust to distortions, suchas crop, shift and rotation, etc., a core Ci={n_(i)} (1≦i≦L) may consistof a single leaky integrate-to-threshold unit (LTU) node or more nodes.The node n_(i) equations are:

$V_{i} = {\sum\limits_{j}{w_{ij}k_{j}}}$

n_(i)=□(V_(i)−Th_(s)); □ is a Heaviside step function; w_(ij) is acoupling node unit (CNU) between node i and image component j (forexample, grayscale value of a certain pixel j); k_(j) is an imagecomponent j (for example, grayscale value of a certain pixel j); Th_(x)is a constant Threshold value, where x is ‘S’ for Signature and ‘RS’ forRobust Signature; and V_(i) is a Coupling Node Value.

The Threshold values Thx are set differently for Signature generationand for Robust Signature generation. For example, for a certaindistribution of Vi values (for the set of nodes), the thresholds forSignature (ThS) and Robust Signature (ThRS) are set apart, afteroptimization, according to at least one or more of the followingcriteria:

1: For: V_(i)>Th_(RS)

1−p(V^(□)>Ths)=1 (−1 ε)¹

i.e., given that l nodes (cores) constitute a Robust Signature of acertain image l, the probability that not all of these l nodes willbelong to the Signature of same, but noisy image, Ĩ is sufficiently low(according to a system's specified accuracy).

2: p(V_(i)>Th_(RS))≈l/L

i.e., approximately l out of the total L nodes can be found to generateRobust Signature according to the above definition.

3: Both Robust Signature and Signature are generated for certain framei.

It should be understood that the generation of a signature is aunidirectional, and typically yields lossless compression, where thecharacteristics of the compressed data are maintained but theuncompressed data cannot be reconstructed. Therefore, a signature can beused for the purpose of comparison to another signature without the needof comparison of the original data. The detailed description of theSignature generation is discussed in more detail in the co-pendingpatent applications of which this patent application is acontinuation-in-part of, and are hereby incorporated by reference.

Computational Core generation is a process of definition, selection andtuning of the Architecture parameters for a certain realization in aspecific system and application. The process is based on several designconsiderations, such as:

(a) The Cores should be designed so as to obtain maximal independence,i.e. the projection from a signal space should generate a maximalpair-wise distance between any two cores' projections into ahigh-dimensional space.

(b) The Cores should be optimally designed for the type of signals, i.e.the Cores should be maximally sensitive to the spatio-temporal structureof the injected signal, for example, and in particular, sensitive tolocal correlations in time and space. Thus, in some cases a corerepresents a dynamic system, such as in state space, phase space, edgeof chaos, etc., which is uniquely used herein to exploit their maximalcomputational power.

(c) The Cores should be optimally designed with regard to invariance toset of signal distortions, of interest in relevant application.

According to some embodiments, a user channel may be limited to aparticular media, such as video data, or it may integrate various mediatypes. In some embodiments a user channel may be generic or veryspecific. For example, a user may initiate a channel on a generic theme,e.g., a book. Subsequently the user may drill down and focus the channelon a specific character, theme, location etc. Additional channels may belaunched based on similar or different content. According to someembodiments channels may be personalized, such that besides theindividualized content, a user may define a channel look, feel, name,description, etc. The user may subsequently distribute the channel toother users, either for commercial or non commercial purposes.

According to some embodiments a user may use multimedia hyperlinking todevelop, initiate or manage channels. For example, a user may read,listen to or view certain content, and may want to build a channelaround that content, or integrate the content into an existing channel.In such a case, the user may highlight, select or otherwise capture thecontent, which may then be incorporated as part of the multimediacontent viewing in, for example, viewing area 210.

According to some embodiments, channels may be configured in a databaseand/or a directory, such that users can search or navigate, using theclient application and/or a Website, to find channels. In someembodiments a user may find a channel, and subsequently initiate achild-channel, sibling channel or other channels connected to the parentchannel. In some embodiments a user may select to make his/her channelopen to the public, while in other cases the channel may be private oravailable for invited users only. In some embodiments the channel owneror manager may control access to the channel, for example, controllingwho can access the channel, demand a payment for usage of the channel,determining how to distribute the channel etc.

While a system for creation of automatically generated a personalizedmultimedia channel has been shown with respect of generation ofSignatures the scope of the invention should not be limited to suchsystems. Specifically system for generation of a personalized multimediachannels by comparison means that do not use Signatures but, for exampleand without limitations, cluster multimedia content based on metadataassociated with the multimedia content. Selection of the personalizedmultimedia content for a particular channel may be done based onmetadata that was associated with previously user used or approvedmultimedia content. The new multimedia content presented in the channelwill have metadata that is within the cluster that fits the user'spreferences. Specifically, if a multimedia content has tags, then inaccordance with the invention the tags may be clustered based on thepreferences exhibited by the user and subsequently additional multimediacontent fitting the user's preferences will be added to the channel.

The principles of the invention are implemented as hardware, firmware,software or any combination thereof. Moreover, the software ispreferably implemented as an application program tangibly embodied on aprogram storage unit or computer readable medium. The applicationprogram may be uploaded to, and executed by, a machine comprising anysuitable architecture. Preferably, the machine is implemented on acomputer platform having hardware such as one or more central processingunits (“CPUs”), a memory, and input/output interfaces. The computerplatform may also include an operating system and microinstruction code.The various processes and functions described herein may be either partof the microinstruction code or part of the application program, or anycombination thereof, which may be executed by a CPU, whether or not suchcomputer or processor is explicitly shown. In addition, various otherperipheral units may be connected to the computer platform such as anadditional data storage unit and a printing unit.

All examples and conditional language recited herein are intended forpedagogical purposes to aid the reader in understanding the principlesof the invention and the concepts contributed by the inventor tofurthering the art, and are to be construed as being without limitationto such specifically recited examples and conditions. Moreover, allstatements herein reciting principles, aspects, and embodiments of theinvention, as well as specific examples thereof, are intended toencompass both structural and functional equivalents thereof.Additionally, it is intended that such equivalents include bothcurrently known equivalents as well as equivalents developed in thefuture, i.e., any elements developed that perform the same function,regardless of structure.

1. A system for generating personalized channels of multimedia content,comprising: an interface to one or more multimedia sources, wherein themultimedia sources provide multimedia content to the personalizedchannels of multimedia content; and a server for receiving multimediacontent from the one or more multimedia sources through the interfaceand for serving selected multimedia content to users of the system overone or more of the personalized channels; wherein a user of the systemreceives personalized multimedia content gathered by the server into theone or more of the personalized channels responsive of preferences ofthe user as observed by the system for the user.
 2. The system of claim1, further comprising: a signature processing system for generating andmanaging multimedia content signatures, wherein the signature processingsystem is connected to the server.
 3. The system of claim 2, wherein thesignature processing system further comprises: a plurality ofcomputational cores enabled to receive the multimedia content, each corehaving properties that are at least partly statistically independent ofother the computational cores, the properties being set independently ofeach other core, each response to the multimedia content generating atleast a first signature element, the first signature element being arobust signature; wherein a plurality of the first signature elementscomprise a first signature of the multimedia content, the firstsignature determined respective of a first threshold value, the firstsignature being robust to at least one of noise and distortion.
 4. Thesystem of claim 3, wherein the signature processing system generates atleast a second signature element in response to the multimedia content;wherein the second signature element comprises a second signature of themultimedia content, the second signature is determined respective of asecond threshold value which is lower than the first threshold, thesecond signature being a non-robust signature.
 5. The system of claim 3,wherein the signature processing system further comprising: acomputation unit that receives the first signature and the secondsignature and is enabled to perform at least one of: compare the firstsignature to at least one of a first signature of at least one previousinput signal or a second signature of the at least one previous inputsignal; and a comparison unit for comparing the second signature to atleast one of a first signature of at least one previous input signal ora second signature of the at least one previous input signal.
 6. Thesystem of claim 3, wherein the signature processing further comprising:a matching unit for matching at least one of the first signature and thesecond signature to a plurality of previously determined firstsignatures and second signatures and generating a list of those thepreviously determined first signatures and second signatures in adescending order of matching to the first signature and the secondsignature.
 7. The system of claim 6, further comprising: a database forproviding the plurality of previously determined first signatures andsecond signatures, wherein the database is connected to the matchingunit.
 8. The system of claim 7, wherein the plurality of previouslydetermined first signatures and second signatures correspondrespectively to a plurality of previously received multimedia content.9. The system of claim 3, wherein the properties are defined accordingto at least one random parameter.
 10. The system of claim 2, wherein thesignature is a unidirectional lossless compression of the multimediacontent.
 11. The system of claim 1, wherein the multimedia content is atleast one of: an image, graphics, a video stream, a video clip, an audiostream, an audio clip, a video frame, a photograph, images of signals,combinations thereof, and portions thereof.
 12. The system of claim 1,wherein the personalized multimedia content is gathered based on tagsassociated with the multimedia content.
 13. The system of claim 11,wherein gathering the personalized multimedia content includesclustering of the tags.
 14. The system of claim 13, wherein apersonalized channel provided to the user has multimedia content thatincludes tags that belong to a cluster that was created by theclustering of tags.
 15. A method for generating personalized channels ofmultimedia content, comprising: initializing one or more personalizedmultimedia content channels of a user with multimedia content; whereinthe multimedia content in the one or more personalized multimediacontent channel is presented to the user on at least a web-browser of acomputing device; receiving preferences of the user regarding thepreferred multimedia content in the personalized multimedia contentchannels; and changing the multimedia content in the one or morepersonalized multimedia content channels based on the receivedpreferences.
 16. The method of claim 15, further comprising: searchingfor new multimedia content based on the preferences of the user; andadding the new multimedia content channel to the one or morepersonalized multimedia content channels.
 17. The method of claim 16,wherein changing the multimedia content further comprising: removingmultimedia content from the one or more personalized multimedia contentchannels based on the preferences of the user.
 18. The method of claim16, wherein each element of the multimedia content has at least asignature.
 19. The method of claim 18, wherein the signature is aunidirectional lossless compression of the multimedia content element.20. The method of claim 18, further comprising: clustering of multimediacontent in accordance with the signatures of each of the multimediacontent element.
 21. The method of claim 20, wherein a personalizedmultimedia channel comprises a cluster generated by the clustering ofmultimedia content element.
 22. The method of claim 18, furthercomprising: generating a signature respective of multimedia content tomultimedia content not having a respective signature.
 23. The method ofclaim 21, wherein generating the signature further comprising:generating a first signature related to the multimedia content nothaving a respective signature, the first signature is determinedaccording to a first threshold value, the first signature being robustto at least one of noise and distortion; and generating a secondsignature responsive of the input signal, wherein the second signatureis determined respective of a second threshold value which is lower thanthe first threshold value, the second signature being a non-robustsignature.
 24. The method of claim 15, wherein the multimedia content isat least one of: an image, graphics, a video stream, a video clip, anaudio stream, an audio clip, a video frame, a photograph, images ofsignals, combinations thereof, and portions thereof.
 25. The method ofclaim 18, further comprising: comparing a signature of the preferredmultimedia content to at least a signature of a second multimediacontent; and clustering the second multimedia content to the newmultimedia content if a match is found between at least the signature ofthe preferred multimedia content and the signature of the secondmultimedia content.
 26. The method of claim 18, further comprising:clustering of a plurality of multimedia content based on at leastsignatures respective of each of the plurality of multimedia content.27. The method of claim 15, further comprising: gathering multimediacontent based on tags associated with the multimedia content into theone or more personalized multimedia content channels.
 28. The method ofclaim 27, further comprising: clustering of the tags associated with themultimedia content based on the preferences.
 29. The method of claim 28,wherein the new multimedia content has tags that belong to clusters ofthe clustering of tags.